N-peters



'UNITED STATES PATEN rien.

SUSPENDING, LOWERING, .AND LIBERATING SHIPS BOATS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 9,594, dated February 22, 18153.

To czZZ whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, WILLIAM STIRLING LACON, of Great Yarmouth, county of Norfolk, England, gentleman, a subject of Her Britannie Majesty, have invented Improvements in the Means of Suspending Ships7 Boats and of Lowering the Same into the Vater; and I do hereb-y declare that the following is a full and exact description of my said invention.

The object of this invention is so to suspend ships boats at the sides or the stern ofl a vessel that in the case of any sudden emergency as the contlagration or the foundering of a vessel her boats may be readily lowered and put to sea. without t-he risk of the tackles or other contrivances which connect the boats to the ship retarding the operat-ions of lowering and iioating them clear of the ship.

The manner in which I overcome the difficulties hitherto attendant on the lowering of ships boats during tempests on dark nights and at periods of excitementand danger is by suspending the boats from chains or ropes which pass over the davits of the ship and thence down to a winch or windlass, around which they are wound, but are attached thereto in such a manner that when the winch is free to revolve the ropes or chains will unship or disengage themselves from'their attachment by their own weight and the pull of the boat. Bythis means I prevent the possibility of the ship in its onward progress through a rough sea dragging forward a lowered boat and capsizing or swamping it, the weight of the chains or ropes, to say nothing of the resistance of the boat, being suficient to disconnect them from the winch and thereby render the boat or friction pulleys c, over which the ropes or chains b, for supporting the boat pass.

v The boat may be hoisted up at sea if desirable by means of the ordinary tackle and when thus hoisted up I permanently retain the boat in the desired position by attaching the ropes or chains to the boat by the ordinary method in use. The ropes or chains Z9, pass down from the davits to conical barrels e, e, and are connected thereto by the last link in each chain or an eye at the extremity of the rope, hooking onto a curved pin CZ, (Z, projecting from the periphery of its barrel. (See the sectional view Fig. 6.) These barrels are mounted on a shaft 7, f, which turns in bearings in the bracket pieces g, g. The barrels c, e, are caused to rotate by the means hereafter described for the purpose of tightening the suspending chains or ropes and causing them tosustain the weight of the boat. The tackles before mentioned as employed for hoisting up the boat are then removed. At about the middle of its length the shaft f carries a large friction pulley Zt, Zt, to which a ratchet wheel c', z', is atlixed. Around and the ends of the strap are jointed to a lever Z which works on a fulcrum pin m. (See the detached views Fig. 4.) Into the teeth of the ratchet wheel a catch projecting from a lever a, which works on a pin o, takes for the purpose of preventing the running down of the chains or ropes Z), b, by the rotation of the barrels and is kept forward in its place in any well known way either by the weight of the lever or by a spring. The levers Z n are set fast by means of the pins j), pi", (or in any other appro` priate manner known to machinists,v although the arrangement represented in the detached Fig. 5 is preferrech) which are readily withdrawn when the apparatus is to be brought into operation.

Let it now be understood that the boat which has been raised to the posit-ion shown in the drawing is required to be lowered into the water. The seaman to whom this duty is assigned first pulls forward the lever Z in. order to make the friction strap la retain its hold of the friction pulley Zt and thus prevent the premature revolution of the shaft f. He then thrusts back the lever ni and releases the catch from the teeth of the ratchet wheel z', the lever end being kept back by means of the pin 79* as shown in Fig. 5. On loosening the friction strap 7c the boat will descend by its own gravity this pulley ZL a friction strap s 7c is placedl and cause the chains or ropes to unwind from the barrels e, e. When "the boat has reached the water the weight of the chains or ropes and the pull of the boat will, if the shaft f is still free to revolve, turn the barrels until by the slipping of Ithe last link of each chain (or the eye at the extremity of the rope) from the projecting pin d of its respective barrel the ropes or chains fall away from the ship and consequently free the boat of its connection with the ship. In order to prevent the boat from running down into the water too rapidly it is only necessary for the seaman to keep the friction strap in contact with the pulley It by holding the lever Z in its forward position and thus any requisite amount of retardation may be put on the rotation of the barrels e, e, and consequently on the descent of the suspending chains or ropes.

If desirable the shaft f may be furnished with a cog wheel for the purpose of gearing into a pinion mounted on a short shaft provided with a winch handle, by turning which the boat may be hoisted up or the winding of the suspending ropes or chains Z), onto the barrels may be effected either when the ropes o-r chains are connected to or are free of the boat or the ordinary hand spike may be used to raise the boat toits elevated position instead of employing the tackles as at present.

Having now set forth my invention and the manner of carrying the same into eect I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the precise arrangement olf apparatus above described for carrying out my invention but I claim- Suspending ships boats by having the chains or ropes so connected with drums or barrels, substantially as specified, that the two ends of the boat shall descend together and with equal or nearly equal velocity, and so that the chains or ropes shall be free to disengage themselves from the barrels, in combination with the mode of controlling the turning of the barrels by the weight of the boat, &c., substantially as specified.

In witness whereof I, the said WILLIAM STIRLING LAooN, have hereunto set my hand and seal this twenty-first day of August, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.

wM. sTiRLING LAooN. [L Sg Witnesses:

J. W. MOFFATT, FRED WALKORN. 

